A. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to canister vacuum cleaners and, more particularly, to a canister vacuum cleaner with an electrical control system including a three-position control switch mounted on the wand handle of a wand handle and hose assembly disposed between a floor cleaning unit and the canister of the vacuum cleaner.
B. Description of the Prior Art
Electrical control systems for controlling the energization of a plurality of electrical motors, particularly in vacuum cleaners, are old and well known in the prior art as exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,072,689; 2,354,787; 3,070,732; 3,413,779; 3,458,892; 3,525,876; 3,579,706; 3,588,943; 3,669,145; 4,021,879; 4,070,586; and 4,357,729. All of the above patents, except the '787 patent and the '732 patent, relate to electrical control systems for vacuum or suction cleaning systems. Furthermore, the '876 patent, the '706 patent, the '943 patent, the '879 patent and the '729 patent all relate to vacuum cleaning systems in which a rotatable brush is driven by a brush motor in a floor cleaning unit remotely located from and interconnected through a wand and a wand handle and hose assembly to a suction or vacuum motor, typically located in a canister. As is conventional, the wand handle and hose assembly may have incorporated therein electrical conductors for energizing the brush motor in the floor cleaning unit without the need for external conductors extending between the canister and the floor cleaning unit. In many of the prior art patents, a control switch for controlling the energization of the brush motor or the vacuum motor is located on the wand handle disposed between the wand and the hose; and a two-wire system or a three-wire system or a combination of both is used to electrically interconnect the control switch and the brush motor and the vacuum motor.
While the electrical control systems of the above prior art patents may be suitable for their intended purposes, there is a need in the vacuum cleaner art for constant improvements in such control systems in order to facilitate the manufacture of vacuum cleaners, to reduce the number of parts required to be kept in stock for the manufacture of vacuum cleaners and to prevent the possibility of damage to certain models of vacuum cleaners displayed on a showroom floor when a wand handle and hose assembly associated with one vacuum cleaner model is inadvertently or intentionally used in connection with a different vacuum cleaner model.